Genesis 32:3-4

32:3 Jacob sent messengers on ahead ¹  to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the region ²  of Edom. 32:4 He commanded them, “This is what you must say to my lord Esau: ‘This is what your servant ³  Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now.

Deuteronomy 2:4-25

2:4 Instruct ⁴  these people as follows: ‘You are about to cross the border of your relatives ⁵  the descendants of Esau, ⁶  who inhabit Seir. They will be afraid of you, so watch yourselves carefully. 2:5 Do not be hostile toward them, because I am not giving you any of their land, not even a footprint, for I have given Mount Seir ⁷  as an inheritance for Esau. 2:6 You may purchase ⁸  food to eat and water to drink from them. 2:7 All along the way I, the Lord your God, ⁹  have blessed your every effort. ¹⁰  I have ¹¹  been attentive to ¹²  your travels through this great wasteland. These forty years I have ¹³  been with you; you have lacked for nothing.’”

2:8 So we turned away from our relatives ¹⁴  the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the desert route, ¹⁵  from Elat ¹⁶  and Ezion Geber, ¹⁷  and traveling the way of the Moab wastelands. 2:9 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass Moab and provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as your territory. This is because I have given Ar ¹⁸  to the descendants of Lot ¹⁹  as their possession. 2:10 (The Emites ²⁰  used to live there, a people as powerful, numerous, and tall as the Anakites. 2:11 These people, as well as the Anakites, are also considered Rephaites; ²¹  the Moabites call them Emites. 2:12 Previously the Horites ²²  lived in Seir but the descendants of Esau dispossessed and destroyed them and settled in their place, just as Israel did to the land it came to possess, the land the Lord gave them.) ²³  2:13 Now, get up and cross the Wadi Zered.” ²⁴  So we did so. ²⁵  2:14 Now the length of time it took for us to go from Kadesh Barnea to the crossing of Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, time for all the military men of that generation to die, just as the Lord had vowed to them. 2:15 Indeed, it was the very hand of the Lord that eliminated them from within ²⁶  the camp until they were all gone.

Instructions Concerning Ammon

2:16 So it was that after all the military men had been eliminated from the community, ²⁷  2:17 the Lord said to me, 2:18 “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab, that is, of Ar. ²⁸  2:19 But when you come close to the Ammonites, do not harass or provoke them because I am not giving you any of the Ammonites’ land as your possession; I have already given it to Lot’s descendants ²⁹  as their possession.

2:20 (That also is considered to be a land of the Rephaites. ³⁰  The Rephaites lived there originally; the Ammonites call them Zamzummites. ³¹  2:21 They are a people as powerful, numerous, and tall as the Anakites. But the Lord destroyed the Rephaites ³²  in advance of the Ammonites, ³³  so they dispossessed them and settled down in their place. 2:22 This is exactly what he did for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir when he destroyed the Horites before them so that they could dispossess them and settle in their area to this very day. 2:23 As for the Avvites ³⁴  who lived in settlements as far west as Gaza, Caphtorites ³⁵  who came from Crete ³⁶  destroyed them and settled down in their place.)

2:24 Get up, make your way across Wadi Arnon. Look! I have already delivered over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, ³⁷  and his land. Go ahead! Take it! Engage him in war! 2:25 This very day I will begin to fill all the people of the earth ³⁸  with dread and to terrify them when they hear about you. They will shiver and shake in anticipation of your approach.” ³⁹ 

Deuteronomy 23:7

23:7 You must not hate an Edomite, for he is your relative; ⁴⁰  you must not hate an Egyptian, for you lived as a foreigner ⁴¹  in his land.

Obadiah 1:10-12

Edom’s Treachery Against Judah

1:10 “Because ⁴²  you violently slaughtered ⁴³  your relatives, ⁴⁴  the people of Jacob, ⁴⁵ 

shame will cover you, and you will be destroyed ⁴⁶  forever.

1:11 You stood aloof ⁴⁷  while strangers took his army ⁴⁸  captive,

and foreigners advanced to his gates. ⁴⁹ 

When they cast lots ⁵⁰  over Jerusalem, ⁵¹ 

you behaved as though you were in league ⁵²  with them.

1:12 You should not ⁵³  have gloated ⁵⁴  when your relatives ⁵⁵  suffered calamity. ⁵⁶ 

You should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah when they were destroyed. ⁵⁷ 

You should not have boasted ⁵⁸  when they suffered adversity. ⁵⁹ 

Malachi 1:2

1:2 “I have shown love to you,” says the Lord, but you say, “How have you shown love to us?”

“Esau was Jacob’s brother,” the Lord explains, “yet I chose Jacob

[32:3]  ¹ tn Heb “before him.”

[32:3]  ² tn Heb “field.”

[32:4]  ³ sn Your servant. The narrative recounts Jacob’s groveling in fear before Esau as he calls his brother his “lord,” as if to minimize what had been done twenty years ago.

[2:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “command” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “charge the people as follows.”

[2:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “brothers”; NAB “your kinsmen.”

[2:4]  ⁶ sn The descendants of Esau (Heb “sons of Esau”; the phrase also occurs in 2:8, 12, 22, 29). These are the inhabitants of the land otherwise known as Edom, south and east of the Dead Sea. Jacob’s brother Esau had settled there after his bitter strife with Jacob (Gen 36:1-8). “Edom” means “reddish,” probably because of the red sandstone of the region, but also by popular etymology because Esau, at birth, was reddish (Gen 25:25).

[2:5]  ⁷ sn Mount Seir is synonymous with Edom.

[2:6]  ⁸ tn Heb includes “with silver.”

[2:7]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text does not have the first person pronoun; it has been supplied for purposes of English style (the Lord is speaking here).

[2:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”

[2:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he has.” This has been converted to first person in the translation in keeping with English style.

[2:7]  ¹² tn Heb “known” (so ASV, NASB); NAB “been concerned about.”

[2:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “the Lord your God has.” This has been replaced in the translation by the first person pronoun (“I”) in keeping with English style.

[2:8]  ¹⁴ tn Or “brothers”; NRSV “our kin.”

[2:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the way of the Arabah” (so ASV); NASB, NIV “the Arabah road.”

[2:8]  ¹⁶ sn Elat was a port city at the head of the eastern arm of the Red Sea, that is, the Gulf of Aqaba (or Gulf of Eilat). Solomon (1 Kgs 9:28), Uzziah (2 Kgs 14:22), and Ahaz (2 Kgs 16:5-6) used it as a port but eventually it became permanently part of Edom. It may be what is known today as Tell el-Kheleifeh. Modern Eilat is located further west along the northern coast. See G. Pratico, “Nelson Glueck’s 1938-1940 Excavations at Tell el-Kheleifeh: A Reappraisal,” BASOR 259 (1985): 1-32.

[2:8]  ¹⁷ sn Ezion Geber. A place near the Gulf of Aqaba, Ezion-geber must be distinguished from Elat (cf. 1 Kgs 9:26-28; 2 Chr 8:17-18). It was, however, also a port city (1 Kgs 22:48-49). It may be the same as the modern site Gezirat al-Fauran, 15 mi (24 km) south-southwest from Tell el-Kheleifah.

[2:9]  ¹⁸ sn Ar was a Moabite city on the Arnon River east of the Dead Sea. It is mentioned elsewhere in the “Book of the Wars of Yahweh” (Num 21:15; cf. 21:28; Isa 15:1). Here it is synonymous with the whole land of Moab.

[2:9]  ¹⁹ sn The descendants of Lot. Following the destruction of the cities of the plain, Sodom and Gomorrah, as God’s judgment, Lot fathered two sons by his two daughters, namely, Moab and Ammon (Gen 19:30-38). Thus, these descendants of Lot in and around Ar were the Moabites.

[2:10]  ²⁰ sn Emites. These giant people, like the Anakites (Deut 1:28), were also known as Rephaites (v. 11). They appear elsewhere in the narrative of the invasion of the kings of the east where they are said to have lived around Shaveh Kiriathaim, perhaps 9 to 11 mi (15 to 18 km) east of the north end of the Dead Sea (Gen 14:5).

[2:11]  ²¹ sn Rephaites. The earliest reference to this infamous giant race is, again, in the story of the invasion of the eastern kings (Gen 14:5). They lived around Ashteroth Karnaim, probably modern Tell Ashtarah (cf. Deut 1:4), in the Bashan plateau east of the Sea of Galilee. Og, king of Bashan, was a Rephaite (Deut 3:11; Josh 12:4; 13:12). Other texts speak of them or their kinfolk in both Transjordan (Deut 2:20; 3:13) and Canaan (Josh 11:21-22; 14:12, 15; 15:13-14; Judg 1:20; 1 Sam 17:4; 1 Chr 20:4-8). They also appear in extra-biblical literature, especially in connection with the city state of Ugarit. See C. L’Heureux, “Ugaritic and Biblical Rephaim,” HTR 67 (1974): 265-74.

[2:12]  ²² sn Horites. Most likely these are the same as the well-known people of ancient Near Eastern texts described as Hurrians. They were geographically widespread and probably non-Semitic. Genesis speaks of them as the indigenous peoples of Edom that Esau expelled (Gen 36:8-19, 31-43) and also as among those who confronted the kings of the east (Gen 14:6).

[2:12]  ²³ tn Most modern English versions, beginning with the ASV (1901), regard vv. 10-12 as parenthetical to the narrative.

[2:13]  ²⁴ sn Wadi Zered. Now known as Wadi el-H£esa, this valley marked the boundary between Moab to the north and Edom to the south.

[2:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “we crossed the Wadi Zered.” This has been translated as “we did so” for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.

[2:15]  ²⁶ tn Heb “from the middle of.” Although many recent English versions leave this expression untranslated, the point seems to be that these soldiers did not die in battle but “within the camp.”

[2:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and it was when they were eliminated, all the men of war, to die from the midst of the people.”

[2:18]  ²⁸ sn Ar. See note on this word in Deut 2:9.

[2:19]  ²⁹ sn Lot’s descendants. See note on this phrase in Deut 2:9.

[2:20]  ³⁰ sn Rephaites. See note on this word in Deut 2:11.

[2:20]  ³¹ sn Zamzummites. Just as the Moabites called Rephaites by the name Emites, the Ammonites called them Zamzummites (or Zazites; Gen 14:5).

[2:21]  ³² tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Rephaites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:21]  ³³ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Ammonites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ³⁴ sn Avvites. Otherwise unknown, these people were probably also Anakite (or Rephaite) giants who lived in the lower Mediterranean coastal plain until they were expelled by the Caphtorites.

[2:23]  ³⁵ sn Caphtorites. These peoples are familiar from both the OT (Gen 10:14; 1 Chr 1:12; Jer 47:4; Amos 9:7) and ancient Near Eastern texts (Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, 2:37-38; ANET 138). They originated in Crete (OT “Caphtor”) and are identified as the ancestors of the Philistines (Gen 10:14; Jer 47:4).

[2:23]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Caphtor”; the modern name of the island of Crete is used in the translation for clarity (cf. NCV, TEV, NLT).

[2:24]  ³⁷ sn Heshbon is the name of a prominent site (now Tell Hesba„n, about 7.5 mi [12 km] south southwest of Amman, Jordan). Sihon made it his capital after having driven Moab from the area and forced them south to the Arnon (Num 21:26-30). Heshbon is also mentioned in Deut 1:4.

[2:25]  ³⁸ tn Heb “under heaven” (so NIV, NRSV).

[2:25]  ³⁹ tn Heb “from before you.”

[23:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “brother.”

[23:7]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “sojourner.”

[1:10]  ⁴² tn Heb “from.” The preposition is used here with a causal sense.

[1:10]  ⁴³ tn Heb “because of the slaughter and because of the violence.” These two expressions form a hendiadys meaning “because of the violent slaughter.” Traditional understanding connects the first phrase “because of the slaughter” with the end of v. 9 (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT). It is preferable, however, to regard it as parallel to the reference to violence at the beginning of v. 11. Both the parallel linguistic structure of the two phrases and the metrical structure of the verse favor connecting this phrase with the beginning of v. 10 (cf. NRSV, TEV).

[1:10]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “the violence of your brother.” The genitive construction is to be understood as an objective genitive. The meaning is not that Jacob has perpetrated violence (= subjective genitive), but that violence has been committed against him (= objective genitive).

[1:10]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “your brother Jacob” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NCV “your relatives, the Israelites.”

[1:10]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “be cut off” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[1:11]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “in the day of your standing”; NAB “On the day when you stood by.”

[1:11]  ⁴⁸ tn Or perhaps, “wealth” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). The Hebrew word is somewhat ambiguous here. This word also appears in v. 13, where it clearly refers to wealth.

[1:11]  ⁴⁹ tc The present translation follows the Qere which reads the plural (“gates”) rather than the singular.

[1:11]  ⁵⁰ sn Casting lots seems to be a way of deciding who would gain control over material possessions and enslaved peoples following a military victory.

[1:11]  ⁵¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:11]  ⁵² tn Heb “like one from them”; NASB “You too were as one of them.”

[1:12]  ⁵³ tn In vv. 12-14 there are eight prohibitions which summarize the nature of the Lord’s complaint against Edom. Each prohibition alludes to something that Edom did to Judah that should not have been done by one “brother” to another. It is because of these violations that the Lord has initiated judgment against Edom. In the Hebrew text these prohibitions are expressed by אַל (’al, “not”) plus the jussive form of the verb, which is common in negative commands of immediate urgency. Such constructions would normally have the sense of prohibiting something either not yet begun (i.e., “do not start to …”) or something already in process at the time of speaking (i.e., “stop…”). Here, however, it seems more likely that the prohibitions refer to a situation in past rather than future time (i.e., “you should not have …”). If so, the verbs are being used in a rhetorical fashion, as though the prophet were vividly projecting himself back into the events that he is describing and urging the Edomites not to do what in fact they have already done.

[1:12]  ⁵⁴ tn The Hebrew expression “to look upon” often has the sense of “to feast the eyes upon” or “to gloat over” (cf. v. 13).

[1:12]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “your brother” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); NCV “your brother Israel.”

[1:12]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “in the day of your brother, in the day of his calamity.” This expression is probably a hendiadys meaning, “in the day of your brother’s calamity.” The Hebrew word נָכְרוֹ (nokhro, “his calamity”)_is probably a word-play on נָכְרִים (nokherim, “foreigners”) in v. 11.

[1:12]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “in the day of their destruction” (so KJV, NASB, NIV); NAB, NRSV “on the day of their ruin.”

[1:12]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “boasted with your mouth.” The Hebrew text includes the phrase “with your mouth,” which is redundant in English and has been left untranslated.

[1:12]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “in the day of adversity”; NASB “in the day of their distress.”